


hold my hand (as tight as you can)

by Rustyanklebraclet



Category: Space Force (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Related, Episode: s01e07 Edison Jaymes, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:49:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28821759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rustyanklebraclet/pseuds/Rustyanklebraclet
Summary: “Sorry, but how is this my problem?”“Because we’re friends, and I need your emotional support during this very difficult time.”"Since when are we friends? We did one work-related project together, and then had lunch together three times, which was really just you sitting down at my table while I was peacefully eating alone and refusing to leave.”“And we’ve formed a very close bond in that time.”---Tony need help preventing himself from doing something stupid, & Chan agrees to take on the role (against his better judgement).
Relationships: Chan Kaifang/F. Tony Scarapiducci
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	hold my hand (as tight as you can)

**Author's Note:**

> full disclosure ive only seen this epsiode one time like a week ago and honestly wasnt really paying super close attention to the finer details of the plot so any inaccuracies are just part of the au because i dont care enough to fix them.
> 
> also apparently they changed looney toons to be called looney tunes, which i only learned yesterday and is absolute bullshit. this fic does not reflect the dumbass decisions of warner bros. on the basis of moral principal.
> 
> enjoy!

“We have a problem.”

Chan doesn’t look up from the tray of sprouts he’s collecting soil samples from. “We do?”

Tony pauses. “Okay, it’s maybe more my problem. 60/40 split, I’d say. Maybe closer to 70/30.”

“What is it?”

“Hannah Howard is here,” Tony says, tone of voice implying chan should know exactly how serious this is.

“Who the hell is Hannah Howard?”

“My old nemesis-with-benefits.”

“Nemesis-with-benefits? Do I want to know?”

Tony huffs. “We were nemeses, but we hooked up on the side. Then she ruined my life and got me fired, and we haven’t spoken since. And now she’s here, on the base, as Edison Jaymes’ publicist, and I don’t know what to do.”

“Sorry, but how is this my problem? Seems more like a 100/0 type of situation.”

“Because we’re friends, and I need your emotional support during this very difficult time.”

Chan turns toward Tony, now, giving him a skeptical look. “Since when are we friends? We did one work-related project together, and then had lunch together three times, which was really just you sitting down at my table while I was peacefully eating alone and refusing to leave.”

“And we’ve formed a very close bond in that time.”

Chan sighs, feeling himself starting to give in (against his better judgement). “What do you even want me to do?”

“Just let me stay down here and hide. And keep my mind off her.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Naird and Mallory right now? Y’know, doing your job?”

Tony shrugs. “They’ll manage for a little bit.”

Chan shakes his head, turning back to his work. “Fine. But don’t annoy me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Tony says, poking his cheek. Chan gives him a look, unamused, and he takes a step back. “Sorry. Not annoying you, starting now.”

* * *

It takes Chan about fifteen minutes to start regretting his decision.

Tony is quiet at first, sitting on a stool next to Chan and quietly fiddling with his phone (possibly working, possibly not. Probably somewhere in the middle). But he gets bored fast, and immediately decides that it’s Chan’s problem. It doesn’t help that almost everyone else that should be in the lab is upstairs with Edison Jaymes, making it even harder for Chan to just ignore him.

“So, how accurate is _The Martian_?” Tony asks.

“Like, from Looney Toons?”

“What? No. the movie.”

“Space jam?”

“No! The Matt Damon one.”

Chan shakes his head. “I'm pretty sure Matt Damon isn’t in Space Jam.”

“Oh my god, no. How do you not know-” Tony cuts himself off as he realizes Chan is barely holding back a grin, and realization dawns on his face.

“Asshole,” he says, the effect of his feigned offence ruined by the fact that he laughs as he says it. Chan starts to laugh as well, and it’s not long before they’re both grinning like idiots & getting somewhat dirty looks from the other few scientists in the room for the disruption.

“Seriously, though. Is it?” Tony says, and Chan shrugs.

“Don’t know. Never seen it. Matt Damon grinds my skull.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. If he was hot I might let it slide, but he can’t even manage that.”

There’s a solid ten seconds of silence, Chan continuing to work quietly & blissfully unaware, before he glances at Tony, who has gone very still.

“You alright?”

“You’re, uh- you-” Tony coughs, very clearly forcing his voice to sound calm when he speaks again “you’re, er, gay? Or, uh, bi, or-”

“I’m gay.”

“Oh. huh. Cool. That's cool,” Tony nods a few times, staring off into space.

“Is that… a problem?” Chan asks. He wouldn’t have expected it to be, given what little he’s been able to judge about Tony as a person, but you never know.

“What? No. I'm bi, myself. Just surprised, I guess.”

“Really?” Chan pauses “How?”

“How?”

“Yeah, How? Like, how could you not tell I was gay?”

Tony huffs. “Well, Chan, I try not to make baseless assumptions about people’s personal lives. I’d expect you to understand that. How should I have been able to tell you were gay, exactly? Your tone of voice? The way you walk? Your loose wrist?”

Chan rolls his eyes. “No, genius. For starters, that-”

He points to a small rainbow flag in his mug of pencils,

“-that-”

an enamel pin of a pride flag on his bag,

“-and that.”

and a framed picture of Chan and another guy very clearly at Pride, complete with Chan kissing the other guy on the cheek as the guy grins at the camera.

“Plus,” Chan says, pulling out his phone, “you follow me on Twitter, after that time you ambushed me in the hallway and refused to let me get by you until I accepted your follow request.”

He shows Tony the screen, where he’s pulled up his profile that, sure enough, has an emoji of a pride flag in the bio.

Tony presses his mouth into a flat line. “Well, for your information, I _did_ notice the Twitter bio. I just thought you were being an ally.”

Chan snorts. “Who would do that? Name one person that you’ve ever seen just use a rainbow flag with no added context to show that they’re an ally.”

“I don’t know. People. There’s probably someone.”

* * *

General Naird & Dr. Mallory come through the lab a little later, accompanied by Edison Jaymes, and another woman that Chan can only assume is the infamous Hannah Howard.

“Fuck,” Tony hisses, as he sees them coming into the room, smoothing down his blazer as he stands. “Fuck, shit. Okay. _Fuck._ ”

Chan watches Tony warily as he clenches and unclenches his fist, muttering to himself.

“How do I look?” Tony asks.

“I don’t know. Fine?” Chan says. Truth is, he finds Tony just sort of attractive in general, so it’s hard to gauge what qualifies as him looking better or worse than usual. Plus, he doesn’t really think that would be a helpful response.

“Tony! I was wondering where you went,” Naird says, registering Tony’s presence and coming over to Chan’s workspace.

“Just keeping Dr. Chan company, sir,” Tony says, laughing nervously as his eyes flit in Hannah’s direction.

Naird nods, clearly not really paying attention, before turning to Dr. Mallory. “What was it that you wanted to show us?”

“Over here,” Mallory says, gesturing across the lab as the four of them start to move in that direction. “Dr. Chandreshekar’s most recent project is truly remarkable.”

“Was that smooth?” Tony asks, once they’re out of earshot.

“What, the part where the two of you didn’t once interact or even make eye contact? Really smooth, sure.”

Tony nods, not seeming to pick up on the sarcasm as he watches Hannah. Chan rolls his eyes. 

“What’s your endgame here, anyway?”

“Endgame?” Tony asks, turning back to Chan.

“Like, are you trying to… get back together with her?”

“Jesus, no,” Tony says. “The opposite. That was the most dysfunctional relationship I’ve ever been in, if you can even call it that. The problem is that if she calls, I’ll come running in a second. I need to keep my mind off her, and you’re the perfect distraction.”

Chan makes a face, unsure how to take being referred to as “the perfect distraction”, but he moves past it.

“I need you to promise me something,” Tony says.

“Promise you what?”

“Promise me you will not, under any circumstances, let me get back with Hannah. No Matter what I say or do, no Matter what _she_ says or does, do not let it happen. If you have to tackle me, poison me, maybe shoot me in the leg or something- whatever it takes.”

“I’m not shooting you,” Chan tells him.

“Hey, dealer’s choice. Just promise me that you’ll do anything you can. For the greater good.”

“The greater good?”

Tony nods, a serious expression on his face. “The greater good.”

Chan nods back with a bemused smile. “Sure, fine.”

“Yes! Okay, thank you.” Tony says, holding out his hand for Chan to high-five. Reluctantly, he does, and Tony grins at him before he speaks again. “Oh, hey, I meant to ask- is that your boyfriend?”

“Is who my boyfriend?”

“Him,” Tony says, and Chan realizes that he’s pointing at the photo on Chan’s desk of him at Pride.

Chan laughs. “James? God, no. he was my college roommate, and we lived together for a few years afterwards, so we got to be pretty good friends. But we definitely aren’t, and never were, together. He doesn’t even live in this state.”

Tony nods. “Cool. so are you… single, then?“

Chan raises his eyebrows. “Are you hitting on me?”

“What? No! I was just curious.”

“Dude, I was kidding. Yeah, I'm single.”

Tony nods again, rocking back and forth on his heels as he goes back to staring at Hannah like she’s God's finest creation. Chan rolls his eyes at him, and goes back to work.

* * *

Tony ends up leaving with the group, deciding that he should actually do _some_ work. Chan finds himself sort of missing having someone to chat with, but he shrugs the feeling off and decides that it’s probably good for him to be able to focus for a bit.

He doesn’t see Tony until much later, at a press conference to discuss the new fuel. He finds him afterwards, violently hissing at a reporter. Chan comes up behind the reporter and gives Tony an awkward wave, and his expression immediately lights up. “Hey!”

“Hey, Tony,” he says, as the reporter uses Tony’s momentary distraction to hurry away.

“What’s up?”

“Just checking how things are going with Hannah,” Chan says, and Tony grins.

“Why? You concerned about me? Invested in your friend’s situation?”

Chan shrugs, and Tony’s grin grows even wider.

“So you admit it. We’re friends.”

Chan shrugs again, a small smile playing across his face. “We’re workplace acquaintances.”

“Okay, man. Whatever you say.”

“Hey, Tony,” says a voice from next to them. They both turn to see Hannah Howard standing there, smiling at Tony. “I just wanted to say that it was really great to see you again.”

“Oh, really?” Tony says, snidely. “What was the great part? When you ratted your boss out almost the second we were alone together? ‘Cause that was pretty great for me.”

Hannah’s eyes sharpen, but her tone of voice remains sweet when she speaks. “Whatever. Just wanted to say goodbye, since we’re about to leave.”

Hannah turns on her heel with one last glance at Tony, as well as giving Chan the most hostile once-over he’s ever experienced, and walks away.

Tony watches her walk over to where Edison Jaymes is Talking to General Naird & Dr. Mallory, before turning to Chan, eyes wide.

“Oh my god, dude, did you _see_ that? She was all over me. ‘Just wanted to say goodbye’? I mean what the hell even was that?” 

Chan nods, remembering his earlier promise to Tony. An idea crosses his mind.

“Man, I know I said I wasn't going down that road again, but I'd be insane not to after that. Did you-”

Tony is cut off by Chan wrapping his tie in his hand once, twice, and then yanking it down, pulling Tony into a kiss.

It’s messy and uncoordinated, and Tony doesn’t register what’s going on until far too late, not to mention the fact that Chan’s brain catches up with his body halfway through and he starts to silently panic at his own impulsiveness. When he pulls back, Tony stares at him in shock, and Chan feels his face heat up as he realizes the atrium is still about halfway full, and everyone definitely just saw that. Chan clears his throat, releases Tony’s tie, and walks as fast as he possibly can back to the lab.

“Fuck Tony? You lose a bet or something?” Dr. Chandreshekar asks him, as he walks past.

“Fuck off, Chandreshekar.”

* * *

Only when he gets back to the lab does the magnitude of what he’s just done strike Chan. He sits down on his stool, leaning his elbows on the lab bench so he can rest his head in his hands. 

He’s still like that ten minutes later, when the door opens and Tony’s voice echoes through the lab.

“Chan? Where’d you- oh.”

Chan looks up to see Tony coming towards him, and he just barely resists the urge to put his head down again.

“What the hell was that?” Tony asks, leaning one arm on the lab bench in front of where Chan sits, as Chan turns to face him.

“Tony, I'm sorry. I just- I don’t know. I thought it would be a good idea.”

Tony frowns. “Who said it was a bad idea?”

“You, just now. Remember? fifteen seconds ago? When you walked into the lab asking what the hell that was?”

“I was talking about you kissing me and then immediately bolting. Not the kiss itself.”

Chan swallows, focusing his gaze on his hands in his lap. “Was it… not a bad idea?”

“That depends,” Tony says. “Why’d you do it? Was it just to get my mind off of Hannah? Because that definitely worked.”

Chan takes a deep breath. “Partially. But it was also just because I...” he sighs, finally working up the nerve to look up at Tony. “I wanted to.”

Tony’s face breaks into a small smile. “Well, I gotta be honest with you. It was pretty awful.”

Chan’s heart falls out the bottom of his stomach. He wills himself to stay strong when he speaks again, voice small. “what?”

“Yeah, I mean, as far as first kisses go, just legitimately atrocious. Not romantic at all, super messy, _intensely_ awkward. not to mention the fact that it happened in front of the worst group of people you could have chosen, bar, like, our grandparents.”

Chan’s wilted expression turns back into a smile as he shoves Tony, lightly. “Jerk.”

Tony’s smile softens, and he reaches forward with his free hand to swipe a bit of Chan’s eternally unmanageable hair out of his face. “What do you say? Should we give it another shot?”

Chan feels like the air has been knocked out of his chest as nods, looking up into Tony's eyes as they search his own. Tony smiles as he moves his hand to the side of Chan’s face, swiping his thumb over his cheekbone. Tony leans in, pressing their mouths together softly.

After a few seconds, Chan moves his arms to wrap around the back of Tony’s neck, deepening the kiss and receiving a small “oomph” from Tony.

When they separate, neither of them can stop smiling. Chan’s stomach feels like it’s made of Jell-o, and the way Tony’s hand is still resting on the side of his face isn’t helping.

“Do you want to have dinner with me?” Tony says, removing his hand so he can run it through his hair, eyes flitting toward the ground as he shifts nervously. “Like, y’know. Date style?”

Chan smiles. “Yeah. That’d be nice.”

Tony smiles back, and Chan couldn’t be happier.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://readandwritesilver.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/HOMINGPIGE0N) if you want
> 
> As always, any and all feedback is appreciated :)
> 
> Much love, Clover <3


End file.
